As of: March 2, 2024, 8:18 a.m
By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi
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Russia claims to have intercepted an internal German Air Force conversation about Taurus missiles.
The MAD is already investigating.
Politicians react with concern.
Berlin - Politicians from the Green Party and the Union have expressed concern about reports that Russia intercepted an internal conversation between German Bundeswehr officers about the Taurus cruise missile.
Well-known Kremlin propagandist Margarita Simonyan first reported on the recording on Friday morning (March 1).
In the evening hours, a 5-minute excerpt from the recording was finally released.
Russia publishes alleged Bundeswehr recording: politicians demand “clarification”
“If this story turns out to be true, it would be a highly problematic process,” said the chairman of the Parliamentary Control Committee of the Bundestag, Konstantin von Notz (Greens), on Friday to the newspapers of the
Editorial Network Germany (RND)
.
“The question arises as to whether this is a one-off event or a structural security problem,” added the Green politician.
“I expect all background information to be clarified immediately.”
The CDU defense politician Roderich Kiesewetter warned against publishing further intercepted conversations.
“Several other conversations will certainly have been intercepted and may have been leaked at a later date for the benefit of Russia,” he told the news portal ZDFheute.de.
It can be assumed “that the conversation was deliberately leaked by Russia at this point in time with a specific intention.
This can only be to prevent a Taurus delivery through Germany.”
Russia claims to have intercepted internal Bundeswehr conversation: Taurus missiles for Ukraine?
In the recordings, four Bundeswehr officers, including Air Force Chief Ingo Gerhartz, can be heard discussing the capabilities of the Taurus cruise missile and what challenges would be associated with delivery to Ukraine.
There was also the destruction of the Crimean Bridge, which Russia built after the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defense told the newspaper that it was investigating “whether communications in the Air Force area were intercepted.”
The Federal Office for the Military Counterintelligence Service has “introduced all necessary measures”.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) justified his rejection of Taurus deliveries in detail at the beginning of the week, primarily arguing technically.
The use of Taurus cruise missiles by Ukraine would require the participation of German soldiers in targeting, he said.
Scholz fears that Germany could be indirectly drawn into the Ukraine war.
Representatives of the coalition partners Greens and FDP, on the other hand, openly advocate for Taurus deliveries to Ukraine.
(bb/AFP)